Fishing Reports

  Weighmaster’s Report - The Captains Bar/ PENN Tuna Tournament

14 – 16 January 2005

The PENN Tuna Tournament was held over the weekend 14 – 16 January 2005 with prizes for the 10 heaviest tuna, heaviest marlin, most T&R marlin and the winning junior. Wow, what a fantastic weekend it turned out to be, the weather was great and the fishing was absolutely superb. Long may it continue.

We had 175 anglers entered into the tournament, which was slightly down on last year but still a good turnout. It was very encouraging to see that 18 of those anglers were juniors.

There were forty two yellowfin tuna that exceeded the minimum weight of 15 kg presented at the weigh station. The heaviest yellowfin weighed 40.700kg and was caught by Paul Ross fishing from the boat Gulf Seeker and was caught in the area of Te Kaha. Three striped marlin were tagged and released (Doug Scurr, Ted Handley and Peter McKinnon) and two were weighed. The heaviest stripey was caught by Rob Lupton fishing off the boat L’aventure and weighed 128.500kg. The second stripey was caught by Lance Mansell fishing off the boat Samsara and weighed 112.800kg. Lance took out the junior prize for the tournament. Congratulations to all the above and also to everyone who caught qualifying fish.

A special thanks goes to the Captains Bar, The Green Thistle Trust, Thompson Walker Ltd (PENN) and Brian Craven for sponsoring this tournament.

Just a reminder to anglers that fish must be presented at the weigh station in good condition. There were a couple of fish brought to the weigh station on Sunday that were definitely past their best before date. On a better note, it was great to see that everyone had their catch cards completed before presenting their fish at the weigh station. Thank you for that as it makes things much easier for the weigh station crew.

The next tournament is the Bridgeman Ladies which will be held over the weekend 5 - 6 February. A reminder to all those ladies entering that briefing will be held at 7.30pm on Friday 4 February and there will be entertainment on Sunday Night from 8.00pm with a beach babes theme.

Its not too late to enter the One Base (2 – 5 Mar) so if you haven’t entered already, get on to it in the next few days.

That’s it from the weigh station for now, so until next time, tight lines and stay safe out there.

Grant